The Artist, Dujardin, Streep and Hazanavicius. These are the champions of cinema for 2011.

The 84th Academy Awards ceremony took place on the 26th of February, 2012, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California, with the red carpet ceremony at the Hollywood and Highland Center. The Academy Awards are hosted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and honour the best in film every year.

This year’s ceremony was hosted for the ninth time by Hollywood veteran Billy Crystal, who replaced former host Eddie Murphy. Crystal remained true to his unbeatable record of hosting the ceremony, keeping viewers and guests entertained and even poking fun at the award nominees.

Despite the diversity in winners in preceding awards ceremonies this year, the multiple wins trend continued to thrive, with five wins each for The Artist and Hugo, and two wins for The Iron Lady. The winners of the 84th Academy Awards ceremony are as follows:-

Presenters at the ceremony included past winners and nominees like Colin Firth, Natalie Portman, Christian Bale, Melissa Leo, Gwyneth Paltrow, Penelope Cruz and Michael Douglas, some of whom livened up the proceedings with their hilarious skits. Highlights of the ceremony were the Cirque Du Soleil performance, hosted by Muppets Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy; and In Memoriam, which remembers notable individuals who passed away in the previous year, included actress Elizabeth Taylor, singer Whitney Houston, and former Apple CEO and founder of Pixar Animation Studios Steve Jobs.

The truly touching and emotional highlight of the ceremony was the presentation of the Academy Honorary Awards and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. The honorary awards were presented to actor James Earl Jones (the voice of Mufasa in The Lion King and Darth Vader in the original Star Wars films) "for his legacy of consistent excellence and uncommon versatility", and makeup artist Dick Smith (makeup in The Godfather, The Exorcist and Amadeus) "for his unparalleled mastery of texture, shade, form and illusion". The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award was presented to talk show host and actress Oprah Winfrey.

Some prominent records were made in this ceremony, including the win by Christopher Plummer, who is the oldest individual to receive the award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Viola Davis for being the second African American actress to receive multiple Academy Award nominations, and Meryl Streep for being the actor with the most nominations than any other in the history of cinema, with seventeen of them.

A personal favourite, silent film The Artist based on the last years of the silent film era, and the evolution of the talkies stole the show this year reviving the forgotten and once golden age of cinema. The Artist won some of the most eminent awards in the ceremony, such as Best Actor in a Leading Role for Jean Dujardin, Best Director for Michel Hazanavicius, and Best Motion Picture.

This marks the end of the awards season for achievement in film for 2011. See you next year!